Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region wants Russia to open a military base on its soil, the separatists' leader said in a proposal likely to anger Georgia and alarm its Western allies.
Georgia has already accused Moscow of trying to annex Abkhazia,
a lush strip of land on the Black Sea coast, and the ex-Soviet
state's Western backers have expressed concern that Russia's
support for the separatists could stoke tension.
"We are in favour of Russia having a presence here in the military
sense, a base here...It will give us protection," Sergei Bagapsh,
president of Abkhazia's separatist administration, said in an
interview.
Russia has given no indication it is prepared to establish a
military presence in Abkhazia, though it has said if Georgia
attacks it will respond, by military means if necessary.
Bagapsh said Abkhazia was offering to sign a military cooperation
agreement with Russia modelled on a deal under which the United
States guarantees military help to Taiwan if China attacks.
"We are ready to sign a military agreement, if Russia wants to do
that...We need guarantees, guarantees of security so we can develop
as a small, sovereign, democratic state," he said.
Abkhazia, a lush sub-tropical region where Soviet dictator Josef
Stalin spent his summer vacations, threw off Tbilisi's rule in a
war in the 1992-3 and since then has been running its own affairs,
with support from Russia.
Georgia's pro-Western leadership, which is seeking membership of
NATO, has vowed to re-establish control.
Tensions have risen sharply over the past two months.
Georgia said a Russian jet shot down one of its unmanned spy drones
over Abkhazia and Moscow deployed extra peacekeeping troops to
counter what it said were Georgian plans for an attack. Both sides
denied the allegations.
The conflict is a source of instability in a South Caucasus region
that is emerging as an important route for delivering oil and gas
from the Caspian Sea to world markets.
Military assistance
Russia has about 2,500 troops in Abkhazia operating as United
Nations-supervised peacekeepers.
It retained a Soviet-era base there for several years but closed
it down in line with a post-Cold War arms treaty.
Speaking in his office overlooking the palm tree-lined seafront in
Sukhumi, the Abkhaz capital, Bagapsh said Georgia was preparing to
restore its control over the region by force - with the indirect
help of its Western allies.
"It is not very good when Europe, the whole world is arming
Georgia, and we are forced to arm ourselves," he said.
"Georgia is one of the most militarized states in the post-Soviet
region...All this is being done to use force to resolve the issues
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia," he said, referring to a second
Georgian breakway region.
He said Abkhazia had no interest in a new war but that it was ready
and able to repel any Georgian attack.
"Georgia must realize that it cannot resolve either the South
Ossetian question or the Abkhazian question through force. It will
never work. If, God Forbid, a war starts, Georgia will lose more
than anyone else," said Bagapsh.
"Georgia has chosen its path. That is its business. Whether it is
in NATO or somewhere else, whether it develops its relations with
the United States or the European Union," he said. "But it will be
without us. We have made our choice."